New Work

New work.
This season those two little words carry much weight.
In October I was laid off from my full time job, due to the organization's recalibration of goals and financial duties. As anyone who has experienced a lay off can surely attest, it is stressful news to receive and results in a bit of soul "what do I want to do with my life?!" searching.

Cue the new work. 
After a bit of re-orienting, I've jumped back into working- more focused than ever. I am in the studio almost every day now, and am LOVING it. As I transition into working primarily as a visual artist my focus includes several facets:

• commissioned projects (yes, I'm doing pet portraits!)
• paintings for upcoming shows
• small mixed media pieces for shops and galleries around town (see photo below!)
• facilitating community art projects such as THIS Artober event

Nashvillians: Go to East Side Story Book Store and pick up a handmade book + pumpkin (bumpkin??) for your own!

Non-Nashvillians: Contact me at sarahkshearer@gmail.com to order!

Stay tuned for more work photos and updates. My new route does lead me into some intimidating days, but I welcome the change. I love adventure, I have faith this will work out for the best, and I'm pretty good at hustling- so freelance life: HERE I COME!

Stop! Collaborate and Listen.

The Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville relocated into a new office space this summer, and I had the honor of developing and facilitating an interactive art project for guests at the Open House celebration.  The completed piece is pictured here; it is a mixed media collage on canvas. The design is inspired by the organization's logo.

Guests at the Open House event were invited to participate in the project by answering:

       “What is your favorite element of Nashville’s creative community?”

Each person contributed their answer by writing it on a piece of paper, which we then collaged onto the canvas. Reading the range of answers and then using them to create a unified piece was very a powerful statement about the strength and vibrancy of Nashville's creative community!

  

 

The image above is little close- up peek. Thank you to all who contributed, and thank you to the Arts & Business Council for the valuable services offered to support our fantastic creatives!

An Anecdote for Your Friday

Have you ever felt totally on top of the world? Like a million bucks? Just 100% AWESOME!??
And then later you realize you had spinach stuck across your front teeth/ your pants were unzipped and you weren't wearing underwear/ you just called your bosses husband the wrong name?
Hmm. Well, I hope you have a minimal amount of these humbling experiences in your life. For the sake of your amusement and my reality check, I will now share a related anecdote.

Once upon a time there was a woman who trained and trained and trained for a big triathlon. The day of the event arrived, and she raced her little heart out. And loved it. And was proud. And happy with the experience. Days, weeks went by and she felt sure of her status as a bad ass athlete. Then, the race pictures arrived! She excitedly opened them, clicking through thumbnail after thumbnail- ready to relive that day of hardcore iron woman accomplishments. Oddly, the pictures seemed to capture something akin to a giddy child waking up on Christmas morning. "This can't be it." She thought. "These shots must've been before I really got in my groove." Fifty or so more shots later- more of the same. What was supposed to have looked like a shot from the cover of Runner's World instead looked like a crazy person frolicking through transition areas and onto the race course. Interesting. She decided-all in all it was still a pretty dang epic day, no matter how it looked to anyone else. So, the moral of the story is~

Be very thankful your cheering friends and family are not too embarrassed to claim you on such days.

YOLO! (hahaha)

Nashvegas Tri Photo Album

And, photos from the race photographer HERE.

Not Indian Summer

The first day of fall, a chill in the air, dead leaves on the ground- it's not summer anymore. Last year, we had quite an indian summer in middle Tennessee but it looks like fall is moving in faster this year. I appreciate the smell of bonfires, exhilaratingly cool morning runs, and brightly colored fall foliage- but I am sad to say good bye to long, sunny summer days full of bike rides after work, kayaking on the river, swims at the lake, and poolside reading. 

With the shifting seasons I find my focus shifting back towards art- making. A couple experiences in particular have given momentum to this shift. 

1. East Side Story

My sweet friends, Chuck and Emily Beard opened a bookstore. They hatched a dream. It is a tiny space bursting with ideas, locally authored books and handmade book art. You can't walk in and not be inspired. 

2. Hillsboro Village Mural

Another dear friend, Andee Rudloff, is a mural painting force of nature. She has been creating multiple large scale murals in the region for the past couple years which are uniquely oriented to encourage community participation. See the video below to get a feel for the process, and the energy it generates (I'm in a pink tank top, zipping in and out of shots!).

3. Creative Capital 

I worked all through last weekend but didn't even care because in the process, I got to be a part of one of the most empowering creative workshops I've ever been to. The Arts & Business Council brought in a national organization, Creative Capital, to do a professional development weekend for artists in all genres. Out of a talented pool of applicants, 24 artists were chosen by panelists to participate in the workshop, and were subsidized by the Arts & Business Council. Marketing, funding, strategic planning, time management- so many tangible tools were given. It was energizing to see the this group of artists leave strengthened and better equipped to achieve their dreams. And, huge bonus, I was able to audit the whole thing and rounded out the weekend inspired by new knowledge and creative community.